Child-resistant closures are regularly used with a number of bottled products in the marketplace. They are frequently difficult to use, particularly by older people or others lacking muscular finger strength or suffering from arthritis, or for those handicapped with poor or failing eyesight, making it difficult to locate the alignment point used on some of the child-resistant systems.
Some child-resistant closure systems require the dual action of pushing down and rotating the cap simultaneously which is difficult, when fingers lack the strength to both push and turn with force at the same time. Another system requires the alignment of a feature on the closure and one on the container, followed by pushing or pulling the closure upward with fingertips or fingernails. Because with this type the containers and closures are made of different materials and by different molding processes, the dimensional tolerances between the two pieces can range broadly enough so that in extremes of tolerance, with the container at an extreme plus tolerance and the closure at an extreme minimum tolerance, rotating and lifting the closure can be very difficult. Another system requires pinching the sides of the closure while turning it. Yet another system requires pushing downward on the top of the closure to deflect a tab upwardly which serves as a pull-up device.
Variations of the first two above-described closure systems are commonly found on prescription containers and over the counter medicines such as analgesics, vitamins and cold remedies. In the analgesic category only one count size within a brand is typically available with a non-child-resistant closure, and is generally not the most economical of all the sizes available.
Elderly people and others having handicaps making it difficult to use many child-resistant closures make up a large part of the prescription and analgesic market. It is predictable that they are, in large measure, frustrated by the existing closures, resulting in closures being loosely replaced or by leaving closures off the associated containers entirely. Because of the demographic make-up of this elderly and handicapped market, child-resistant closures are often not necessary. Despite that, market realities and desires dictate the use of such closures.
The objective of this invention is to provide a child-resistant closure which can be easily changed between a security engaged, child-resistant mode and a security disengaged, non-child-resistant mode, and to provide for the closure to be retained in the security disengaged mode if desired. The facility of having the option to easily use either mode could preclude leaving a container unsecured, because of the difficulty attendant its reopening, even when needed from a safety standpoint.